Wrong Number
by GoldFountain
Summary: Sometimes, the wrong number is the right number.


Wrong Number

* * *

Numbers, numbers, numbers. To many people, numbers were intimidating. Whether when they would appear on a math test or on a credit card bill, numbers would be the source of headaches for an innumerable amount of people.

But not to Cheren. If his thick-rimmed glasses told you anything about him, it was that he was as studious as studious a student could get. Not to mention math was Cheren's forte. Not once have numbers troubled him. Even now, when he was standing in an aisle in a convenience store on a terribly rainy day looking at and summing up the price of tax for three $1.69 cans of soup in his head, he was in his prime.

"With 5% tax... That would amount to about twenty five cents," Cheren recited, holding a can of chicken soup in his hand.

Setting his basket down, Cheren put three cans of soup into it with one hand while he searched his pockets for a quarter with the other. His face turned into a scowl when he realized he didn't have any.

"Of course," he muttered.

Looks like Cheren will have to take out another dollar to cover the tax. At least he comforted himself by reaffirming the fact that he would not have ended up with a round number either way, seeing how the total would have been summed up to $5.32 with or without a quarter. Might as well bust out the extra dollar to get some more change while he was at it.

But change was so much more heavier than paper money, and the noise it made when it jingled in his pockets... Maybe it would have been a better idea to go for exact change after all.

Cheren left the convenience store with a rather foul taste in his mouth. Hooking his bag over his shoulder, Cheren pulled his umbrella out of the pot by the entrance and was about to open it when there came a sudden vibration in his pants. Feeling a little nonplussed, Cheren quickly stowed his umbrella away and reached within his back pocket for his cell phone.

He looked at the screen. The photo ID and the number were unmistakable. Sighing, Cheren flipped his phone open and answered the call. He had to hold the phone away from his ear when the receiver on the opposite end shouted:

"Daddy!"

Cheren blinked. This was not the greeting he was expecting.

"I don't recall ever becoming a father, Bianca."

"Eh? Is that you, Cheren?"

"Yes."

"O-Oh, my bad! I must have dialed the wrong number."

Yes, that was evident enough. Now, was she going to hang up? The rain was getting heavier by the second.

"Say, Cheren!"

No, of course not.

"Seeing how I've already called you, do you mind helping me out a bit?"

Cheren sighed. He didn't sigh because Bianca's requests were difficult to complete, but rather because of the fact that she wouldn't take no for an answer. Her requests usually transmogrified into demands, depending on how bubbly she was. And bubbliness seemed to be ingrained into her personality, so it wasn't hard to calculate the chances of a petulant Cheren escaping her invoices.

Saving himself some energy, Cheren answered sullenly, "Yes, what is it?"

"Thanks, Cheren. I'm in rather of a pickle right now. Are you close outside?"

"Yes."

"Great! That will make things much easier, then!"

Hm? Cheren felt as though something was off.

"So you know how hard it's pouring outside, right, Cheren?" Bianca continued.

"It'd be quite hard not to notice."

"Well, I was running outside to pick up some eggs from Professor Juniper's lab, and on my way back to home, it suddenly started raining. I forgot to take an umbrella, so now I'm trapped inside a phone booth," said Bianca's muffled voice. "Normally, I wouldn't mind getting a little wet, but these eggs have got to stay dry. I'm near the southern end of the park. So, um, if you're close Cheren, could you possibly pick me up?"

The southern end of the park? That was right around the corner, if Cheren remembered correctly. Picking her up wouldn't become much of a detour. He was going to have to pass the park anyways on his way home. Plus, he remembered that Bianca still owed him three dreaded quarters for the drink he bought for her the other day.

"I'll come and pick you up, Bianca. I'll be there shortly."

"Thanks, Cheren!" Bianca shouted happily from the other end.

Within a few minutes, Cheren arrived at the park, which was rarely empty save for days with torrential rains like this. He found Bianca huddled inside a phone booth with a couple of eggs in her arms. She was facing with her back towards him. Cheren rapped his knuckles against the booth's sliding door, shocking its inhabitant.

Bianca's face lit up with animation as she turned around and exited the phone booth in an instant.

"Ah, hello, Cheren!" she greeted.

"Hello, Bianca."

Bianca surveyed her friend with a sort of renewed vigor. She saw that Cheren was carrying a bag of groceries in one hand and a sturdy, grey umbrella in the other.

Wait, only one umbrella?

"Sorry, I only have one umbrella," said Cheren, as though he read her thoughts.

If one of her hands were free, Bianca would have put a hand to her mouth to dramatize the situation as how she loved to picture herself in a movie. But she didn't, so she settled for a gasp instead.

"But...!" Bianca began, even adding a pause for emphasis. "That will make us seem as though we are - "

"Don't get carried away, Bianca," intercepted Cheren, careful not to add "Let's" after "Don't."

"All... All right," said Bianca, looking a little crestfallen.

"Let's go. Your house is down the road this way, right?" asked Cheren.

"Yes!" Bianca said with a smile.

So quick! Bianca could recover well from anything, Cheren had long since realized. She wasn't the type to brood for too long.

Bianca moved closer to him until she was also under the umbrella. There was just enough space for both of them to occupy beneath it comfortably. The two began walking, slower than they usually would have due to the need of Cheren keeping an umbrella held over both of them securely so that any stray raindrops wouldn't hit them or the precious eggs.

Not long after the two began their awkward, shuffling walk - it'll take a bit of time before they find a good rhythm - Bianca said in a low voice:

"Sorry to make you do this for me, Cheren."

Cheren didn't respond immediately, for he had to step over a rather large puddle conglomerated on the side of the sidewalk.

"Don't be. I was going to pass by the park anyways. Plus, your call made me remember that you still owe me three quarters."

"Three quarters? What - Oh, right, the Maractus juice!" Bianca said, after a few moments of contemplation. "I forgot about that. I'll give you them when I get home, then."

He could have used those quarters a bit earlier, Cheren thought. But he didn't say anything. After all, he forgot as well.

"Then, I guess it looks like it turned out to be good fortune to have called you by mistake after all, huh, Cheren?" said Bianca, giving him a wide grin. "You're always a stickler when it comes to money."

Ugh. Such a large smile shouldn't be appearing on a terribly rainy day like this. Cheren could never understand how Bianca could muster so much radiant energy in any type of situation. Did she ever feel any adverse emotion for more than five seconds? He doubted it. Bianca, for all of her worrisome worth, would always somehow manage to turn a dire situation into one in her favor. Cheren didn't know whether Lady Luck had something to do with it (Was Bianca using Lucky Chant on herself lately? Cheren thought that would be the type of experiment Bianca would have performed on herself), but either way, he knew for certain that Bianca was an insufferable optimist.

"It may have been good fortune for you. I, for one, have been having a dreary evening."

Bianca frowned slightly and nudged him on the shoulder a bit. Cheren shirked away at the sudden physical contact, nearly dropping his groceries and umbrella as a result.

"Aw, come now, Cheren. Don't be like that."

"I'm not being anything."

Bianca chuckled.

"Sure you aren't. But I know I'm a butterfly that feels all aflutter."

Cheren wasn't sure what to make of this peculiar statement. For good measure, he decided not to comment.

"It really was coincidental for me to have called you, and even moreso for being so close," said Bianca.

"But my horoscope did say that I was going to have a fateful encounter with a Pisces today, so I'm not that surprised," continued Bianca. "I'm just glad that it was you who rescued me instead of my father, Cheren."

Bianca's father was also a Pisces? Cheren made sure to keep that information in the back of his mind. It was trivial information, but it could come in use nevertheless. But it wasn't as if Cheren would be the type to put much faith in horoscopes anyway.

"Fate works in odd ways," Cheren said simply.

"Definitely."

The two fell silent.

The two slowly walked to a halt at an intersection, as if to mirror their pause in conversation. The roads were dark and empty, so it made the gesture more of a customary habit rather than an actual stoppage. After waiting for about a minute to let any tumbleweed and imaginary cars to pass through, what were once red lights eventually changed to green, and that allowed for them to continue.

"So," Cheren began, resuming the conversation.

"Yes?"

"Are there are still some tensions between you and your father then, Bianca?" Cheren asked.

Cheren the mood killer! Even Bianca, for all of her endless positive energy, couldn't help but put on a stony face when she heard his question.

Only for an instant, though. Bianca looked quite like her usual chipper self when she replied:

"My father and I have been getting along much better recently, Cheren."

Out of the corner of his eyes, Cheren stared unflinchingly at Bianca past the handle of the umbrella. Clearly, Cheren was not convinced, or rather, he was silently pressing her for a deeper explanation.

Bianca tried to hold the stare between them, but her rigidity shattered within a few seconds.

"Fine. I'll explain."

Cheren resumed looking back at the path.

"It's hard to reconcile after we haven't seen eye to eye for so long. Ever since I left for my journey a year ago the only actual contact we've had with each other was at Nimbasa City. And I'm sure Elesa told you how that all turned out," said Bianca.

"I thought relations improved significantly since that meeting."

"They did, but there is still an underlying current of disapproval, I feel, that will lie forever with him about me. I know he cares for me, but he probably just doesn't want me to make the same mistakes as he did when he was a trainer."

Cheren kept silent. He remembered the times as a child when Bianca boasted to him about how her mother said that her father was once renowned as a gallant adventurer. The sparkles in her eyes then were full of luster. Now, all he could see were traces of that fascination, having diminished as how a small puddle would have slowly drained into the ground below.

"But we have been getting along much better, truly, Cheren. Now, I think, we understand each other a whole lot better," said Bianca, with a rather strained smile.

Cheren felt his grip on the umbrella get suddenly tighter. He said, after thinking:

"Sorry to have made you say all this, Bianca."

Bianca raised a hand in feeble protest. "Oh no... No, it's fine. Truly."

"As time moves forward, things will surely change. We just have to keep our eyes on our goals, and always strive towards them, that's all," said Cheren.

"That sounds like something just someone serious like you would say," said Bianca, letting out a chuckle.

Cheren bit his lip to prevent any tongue-in-cheek comments from escaping.

The two made a bend around the corner, where Bianca's house was waiting.

Upon realizing that they were at her home, Bianca let out a loud, drawn-out sigh. This sort of behavior was uncharacteristic of Bianca, Cheren noticed. But he couldn't blame her, seeing how he forced her to reveal her feelings. As they walked up to the front doorstep, Bianca turned to face him.

"Thank you, Cheren, for everything today."

"It's not a problem."

Smiling, Bianca gave him a quick look that asked him to stop for one moment. Cheren stood, and watched Bianca put the eggs gingerly away into a basket located in a cranny beneath the bushes.

Then, Bianca swiveled around, and in one fluid motion, she lifted herself up on her toes and pecked Cheren one on the lips. Flustered, Cheren was dangerously close to dropping his items; it took the fortitude of a man having gone through many years of training for him not to have done so.

"I've been wanting to do that for a while," said Bianca, lowering herself down. She had a sly smile on her face. "And I guess I took upon the opportunity after I saw your umbrella poking out of the vase at the convenience store."

So that was it! Cheren wondered why Bianca was so sure that when he said he was outside, she ruled out the possibility that he wasn't close by.

Still smiling, Bianca exhibited her usual bubbly self in front of him by giving him a little cheerful wave before she headed on in, leaving a dazed Cheren in her wake.

Cheren felt his lips for a moment. He didn't even realize he had let go of the umbrella, nor take notice that it had stopped raining. But, in his hazy state of mind, he remembered one thing:

"Ah, the quarters..."

Cheren was at a loss for words.

Oh well, Bianca had surely paid her debts; even if it was in another way.


End file.
